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Friday, March 29, 2024

Lakeville parish seeks to raise awareness of human trafficking

Susan Klemond
Lakeville police detective Jim Dronen stands with Flora Whitfield of St. Paul-based nonprofit Breaking Free, which helps victims of sex trafficking and prostitution. They were the featured speakers at a Jan. 10 event to raise awareness about human trafficking held at All Saints in Lakeville.
Lakeville police detective Jim Dronen stands with Flora Whitfield of St. Paul-based nonprofit Breaking Free, which helps victims of sex trafficking and prostitution. They were the featured speakers at a Jan. 10 event to raise awareness about human trafficking held at All Saints in Lakeville. SUSAN KLEMOND | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

When Flora Whitfield was 14, a man she’d met in Minneapolis took her out of state without her family’s knowledge.

For the next two weeks, the boyfriend/trafficker sold her for sex. When he brought her back to Minnesota, he beat her, giving her a black eye and several concussions, said Whitfield, now 32, who told her story at a Jan. 10 event at All Saints in Lakeville titled “Human Trafficking: From Darkness into the Light.”

Until his arrest several years later, the trafficker continued to control Whitfield and forced her into sex work. She didn’t feel leaving was an option.

Not until her 20s — when she attended an education program at Breaking Free, a nonprofit in St. Paul — did Whitfield fully understand what had happened to her. “I didn’t even know that I was a victim,” she said. “I didn’t know that it was not my choice.”

Now associate program director at the organization, which provides housing and social services to victims of sex trafficking and prostitution, Whitfield said she’s learned who she is as a person and about boundaries.

Sharing personal and law enforcement perspectives at the event — which drew nearly 200 parishioners and members of other Catholic parishes and Christian denominations — Whitfield and Lakeville Police Detective Jim Dronen talked about several aspects of human trafficking, including the internet’s role in sex trafficking and ways parents can protect their children.

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Minnesota is also a hub for drug trafficking, “so it would kind of make sense along the same lines that human trafficking would follow that path,” he said.

The January evening coincided with “National Human Trafficking Prevention Month,” and it was held about a month before the Super Bowl — Feb. 12 this year in Glendale, Arizona — which as a large, public event provides numerous opportunities for commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, said Chris Kuhn, All Saints adult faith formation director.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

  • More than 20.9 million people are ensnared in human trafficking globally.
  • The average age a person is first sold into sex trafficking: 13 years old.
  • Annually, human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide.
  • Human trafficking is the fastest growing and most lucrative criminal enterprise in the United States, behind only drug smuggling.

— Minnesota Department of Transportation at dot.state.mn.us/humantraffickingawareness

All Saints organized the event at the request of parishioner Diane Berg, 81, who helped plan and publicize the evening. Formerly a parishioner of Risen Savior in Burnsville, Berg said she continues to serve with that parish’s human trafficking committee, which assists community partners through education, prayer services and speakers.

Attendees included members of Risen Savior as well as St. Agnes in St. Paul, and Lutheran and Baptist churches in the area. Organizers hope the meeting, and a follow-up planned for March, might lead to faith communities and others in the area forming relationships to help mitigate the problem, Kuhn said.

Minnesota law defines human trafficking as the sale of a person for the purpose of sexual acts or forced labor. Dronen said that when he began handling one or two sex trafficking cases a month in 2018, he worked with federal agents posing as minors on social media who encountered people seeking sex. When the customers came to Lakeville to meet a minor “contact,” Dronen and another officer arrested them.

Dronen’s department no longer has officers dedicated to sex trafficking cases, but other area law enforcement agencies do, he said.

Prostitutes often are victims of their “pimps,” or those controlling them, Dronen said. While law enforcement targets pimps and customers, Minnesota’s Safe Harbor program for youths caught up in prostitution provides victim-centered, trauma-informed services and safe housing, he said.

One third of teenagers on the street are approached by a pimp within 48 hours of leaving home, Dronen said. Even more concerning are traffickers on social media who encourage children to run away, he said.  Dronen suggested that parents purchasing phones for their children set up parental monitoring of the devices. Also important: Obtain names and telephone numbers of their children’s friends and keep track of their activities, he said.

Karen Saunders, 57, who is Lutheran, and Kay Poho, 66, an All Saints parishioner, said they came to the All Saints gathering to learn more about human trafficking and find ways to help or donate.

The presentations were “really moving and eye-opening” Saunders said. Poho said, “I had no idea, it was enlightening,” adding that she was encouraged churches might collaborate to support trafficking victims.

Two members of All Saints’ justice and service commission, Jim and Judy Strande, said they helped with the event. “It was very informative,” said Jim, 80. The couple said they needed to process the information and learn more about this “extremely important” issue.

Valerie Beck, 51, a member of evangelical Trinity Church in Lakeville, said she wanted to connect with others working on trafficking issues. In the next two years, she plans to open a transitional home in the southern suburbs for women who have experienced sexual exploitation. They need to know there is hope, she said.

“I want them to know that life can be transformed, that Jesus loves them, regardless of what has happened to them, and that they can have a new, different life than what they’ve experienced,” Beck said.

 


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